Undead

Vengeance. (319)

Dad leans forward and removes the chair from the door before slowly turning the lock and slowly opening the door. It squeaks as it opens and the groans from the walkers fill the room as they push past us. I watch as Clovers eyes go wide in shock but still her body is temporarily paralyzed. I shake my head back and forth as she watches in horror as our plan unfolds before her.

Walkers spill into the room and we begin to walk around them without any notice. I start to sweat as Dad forces his way through the door and Madison and I follow with Clover hanging between us.
We hurry to the bottom of the corridor where a set of stairs greets us. We slowly move upwards taking one step at a time, hoping we're not caught.

Once we've reached the top of the stairs Madison leads us to the next flight of stairs. I repress a sigh as I realize how many stairs we'll have to climb. Dad has to hold on tightly to Fangs who tries to dash up the stairs at a speed that would surely get us caught. After some time, my knees start to giving out while we more at a painfully slow rate, each step making my muscles scream. At one point Madison starts to loose grip and I have to move closer to help her grab ahold of Clover again. I watch as sweat glitters across Madison's forehead and she frowns in concentration.

I thought crawling through the vents took forever but I'll never complain about them again, not after all this. Finally, we reach the top floor and Madison uses her hips to push open a black door and we all quickly push inside.

We all fall to the ground in exhaustion when the door closes. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Madison and I dumped Clover on the ground the minute the door shut and I can already feel the prickling pain in my hands as I stretch them out of the cramped position they were stuck in. My blood finally getting to my fingertips after all that hard work.

When I open my eyes I'm surprised to see no roof, in fact, I see a clear blue sky. I watch as small birds float effortlessly across the sky.

I suddenly feel a hand on my shoulder.
"You good?" Madison breaths. She lies next to me, flat on the ground except her small hand that rests on my shoulder. The small gesture makes my stomach flutter, it's silly but I don't care.
Her eyes are closed but her brow is pointed, waiting for my response.
The frown has disappeared from her face and is replaced with a peaceful look.
"Never better. Just your average Tuesday." I tease.
I watch as a smile spreads across her face, making it lighten up, even with her eyes closed.

Fangs leaps over me and jumps on top of Madison. She gasps as he lands heavily on her, causing her to groan, but regardless her smile doesn't alter.
She pats Fangs loudly on the back and then runs behind his ears.
"We made it buddy, we made it."
"Yeah and now what?" Dad interjects.
She gently pushes Fangs off of her and stands to her feet. I copy her actions and when I stand to my feet I find that we're standing in a balcony. The city stretches far and wide. It looks run down, destroyed by flames and the dead. Some buildings are barely standing with their own support.

Dangling just above the balcony is the body I seen from below earlier. It's a male and I notice gashes and marks covering his skin, a lot of skin, more skin than I wanted to see. When I look away my eyes trail to the ground where I find his dirty, abandoned clothes. I notice a collection of knives, bats and whips on the ground and the slashes and marks on the man's back suddenly makes sense and when I think of Madison's back... I shudder and try to push that thought away.

I turn away, the stench from the corpse is enough to make my eyes water and when I close my eyes to try and blink out the tears I can suddenly focus on the constant buzzing sound. When I turn back around I watch as flys nest and hum around the body.

When I look back over at Madison her smile has vanished for a look so sad it could break hearts.
"We can't leave him like that." She whispers, her voice barely audible in the soft winter breeze.
Dad sighs but bends over the small wall of the balcony to reach the man.

I move to help him untie the man and get him down safely. When I look back at Madison I had hoped the sad look would've vanished but somehow it got sadder. Her frown is almost etched into her soft skin and suddenly the small shadows under her eyes are more prominent than I've noticed before. I though she said she was sleeping better now... Her mouth has molded into a straight line and her brows furrow. This makes her look older yet so much younger at the same time.

Her eyes are focused on the rope that now sways easily in the light breeze.
Madison's lips part and she opens her mouth wider. When she speaks, her voice sounds soft and frail.
"I guess it's a good way out as any other. It's the fall that kills you, not the walkers."

I've never seen her like this before. This place is poison. Suddenly as if somebody snapped their fingers, something in the air has changed and I watch as Madison's face hardens into a mask, into a stranger. I can practically feel her anger radiating from her body. To prove me right, I watch as she balls her fists tightly by her side. I want so badly to know what's going on inside her head but at the same time I don't want the pictures in my head if what she went through, this place is vile and if the other doctors were as cruel as Clover I don't think I want to know what happened to her. I know that's selfish but I can't stand the thought of somebody violating her like that.

Her nostrils flare and her eyes light up with an unusual spark. It takes me a minute to realize that it's vengeance that dances behind those pretty eyes. But vengeance and Madison's temper is a recipe for disaster. She leans forward, barely acknowledging the full collection of weapons from earlier, instead she reaches her hand out and slowly grasps the whip. 
"Hang her up." She whispers.